Dan in the DC Universe
by Anime PJ
Summary: Challenge Fic, idea belongs to DarkLord98. Daniel Blake died and, to make a long story short, he ended up as a sidekick to Batman. And things only get crazier from there ... First of two stories. (Possibly more). Batgirl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, and welcome to my first time taking on a challenge fic! I found this challenge on the profile page of DarkLord98, so any and all credit for the idea goes to him.**

**The challenge is to send a teenager between the ages of 14 and 19 to the DC Universe; specifically, the universe of _The Batman _2004 series. From there he'll go on to either _Teen Titans _or _Young Justice_; I haven't quite decided yet, but I'm leaning more towards _Teen Titans_.**

**I threw in a cameo from a future story I have planned in this chapter. See if you can guess what the story is going to be for by looking at the details given.**

**Let's begin.**

* * *

**Year One—Dan's Age: Fourteen**

Dan Dies and … HOLY SHIT, IT'S BATMAN!

Daniel 'Dan' Blake had never thought he'd done anything in his life that warranted any kind of reward afterwards. He was only fourteen, for Christ's sake, and he honestly wasn't all that extraordinary. He liked animé, comic books and the DC animated cartoons. In Dan's opinion, Marvel would _never _be able to live up to DC's greatness when it came to the making of cartoons, no matter how much they tried to get into the TV industry.

This story begins with Dan dying. It was a death he would be embarrassed to recount; all that had happened was Dan tripping over his cat at the top of the stairs and tumbling down, breaking his neck before he was even halfway. He'd always hated that damn cat.

And now he was sat in an office, or at least what _looked _like an office. He wasn't all too sure what _kind _of office it was, though. Absolutely _everything _within the office was a blinding white colour. Dan was struggling to see anything in the room other than the walls. The desk was white, the chair Dan sat on was white, the man who had just mysteriously appeared on a chair in front of him wore nothing but white; even the man's _hair _was white!

"Hello there," said the man, cheerfully. "My name is Yasuhide Kusuhara, and I'm here to guide you to your afterlife."

"What's with all the white in this place?" Dan asked in exasperation, then, "Wait … _what_?" He wasn't sure he'd heard Yasuhide correctly.

Yasuhide chuckled. "Yes, you heard me quite correctly, my friend. I'm here to guide you to your afterlife."

"B-b-but …" Dan struggled to speak. He had been an atheist in life, so the fact that there apparently _was _life after death both confused and scared him. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Why is your hair white? You can't be any more than, what … eighteen?"

"I'm seventeen," said Yasuhide. "I just happened to grow up a little faster than others, that's all. And my hair's not normally this colour; it's usually black. Hell, I don't even really _work _here. I'm filling in for a friend of mine who's off on other business, they're gonna send me back to the land of the living later."

"If you don't work here, then what do you normally do?"

"I run around inside a TV and fight monsters with some friends of mine."

"Are you insane?"

"Are you dead?"

"Good point," Dan conceded. "So … how does this work, exactly? Do we just have a chat and then decide whether I go to heaven or hell?"

"Well, not exactly," said Yasuhide with a bit of a nervous smile. "It all depends on where you choose to go, really. It could turn into your heaven _or _your hell. I'll give you a couple of examples. Say you chose to go to the world of _Harry Potter_; I think all the magic and wondrous things that happen there would be enough to make it a person's heaven, at least up until Voldemort's forces start amassing. But then say you wanted to go to, I don't know, the world of _Attack on Titan_. Now _that _is enough to be _anyone's _personal hell."

"Wha—?" Dan was completely lost … though the thought of living _Attack on Titan _was harrowing to him.

"Okay, so this is how it works," said Yasuhide, straightening himself up as if this was going to be a long conversation. "Only the really evil people go straight to hell after death. We're talking murderers, rapists, all those awful people. And since you aren't one of these dreadful men, what you're going to do is pick a world."

"Pick a world?"

"Yep. Any world that was fictional in your reality is completely open to you now. I believe I am actually from a world that's fictional in your own, but it's quite different from how you would know it. Anyway, I shouldn't get off topic; that's how the system works. As long as you aren't an evil scumbag, you get shifted to a different world each time you die in one. You even get to choose special abilities, assuming they aren't too overpowered. We don't want you breaking the world because you decided to become your new world's Son Goku."

Dan was silent. Thinking. This was crazy, but … it was happening no matter how crazy it appeared to be. And he remembered his death clearly, no matter how his current awareness of reality told him it had not happened. He remembered tripping, falling, and breaking his neck halfway down the stairs. He remembered a brief moment of pain that was quite severe, and then he remembered just randomly waking up in this office. What was that Sherlock Holmes had said? _When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. _He couldn't be alive; it was impossible to dream in a coma; this was all too elaborate for a prank. Those were the impossibilities. So what was left?

He really had died. That was what was left.

"Any world?" said Dan. He was smiling. If this was true, and any world was now open to him …

"Yep." Yasuhide was smiling, too.

"How does the DC Universe sound to you?"

"It sounds like you need to be more specific. There are a _lot _of versions of the DC Universe."

"I want to start in _The Batman_. Y'know, the one that started in 2004. And I want it to lead into either _Teen Titans_ or _Young Justice._"

"Any particular preference?"

"Surprise me. I like both shows, so either is good for me."

"All right, then." Yasuhide wrote a few things on what looked like some sort of contract. "Any particular powers you want to have? It's entirely optional, of course, but I think they'll help where you're going."

Dan thought about it. "I want Airbending powers from _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. I would just ask for all four, like the Avatar, but I get the feeling that would be breaking your rule against overpowered abilities."

Yasuhide chuckled. "Probably. I don't actually know, I don't normally work here. Good choice, either way." He wrote a few more things on the contract and then pushed it towards Dan, along with the pen. "Just sign your name at the bottom and we can get this dimension jump under way."

Dan took a brief look through the contract—his father had always told him to read something before signing it—and there wasn't all that much to it. He wasn't allowed to change any of the major events in the world he was going to, but he was perfectly able to interact with all of the people involved with said important events. There was one section that read: _W__hether you choose to enter into the DC Universe and become a hero, anti-hero or villain, you will not render anybody important to the events of the world incapable of performing their part. _The fact that he had a choice in alignment was a nice thought, but he knew he was going to be a hero. After years of watching superhero cartoons, he really couldn't imagine himself doing anything else.

Dan signed the contract.

"Thank you for using this afterlife service," said Yasuhide, "and we hope to see you again in the future." He grinned. "But not too soon, eh, Dan? Just remember not to change major events—small ones are fine, but large ones can cause major universal complications—and remember one other thing: do try to have fun."

Dan noticed a light building up around him … then a flash … then he saw a city. It was the middle of the night, from the look of things. The place looked very peaceful, but appearances could be deceiving. Dan knew exactly where he was the moment he saw the city around him.

He had arrived in Gotham City.

* * *

Dan could see immediately that he was in that infamous part of Gotham simply known as The Narrows thanks to a road sign that stood near his materialisation point. There were a number of streets listed on said sign, but the one that told Dan for definite where he was read: _Arkham Asylum_. That was good, because, assuming he had arrived at the time of the first episode of _The Batman_, that meant that The Joker would be taking over Arkham soon, and Dan could get in to the thick of it all the quicker.

Dan barely had to walk for a few minutes before the imposing image of the Asylum appeared before him. There was nothing yet to make it appear that anything was amiss. As he tried to find his way in, Dan briefly took note of his reflection in a window, and found that he still looked quite like he did in his old world.

He had fair, Caucasian skin, and short, wavy black hair with specks of grey in it—he had never known where the grey came from. His eyes were a dark brown and fairly average-looking. He was of average weight, but he was also tall, which made him appear somewhat narrower in build than was natural. One thing that had changed was his clothing. Whereas before, when he had died, he was wearing a suit-like set of pyjamas with pinstripes running down them, he was now wearing the faded, grey remains of a shirt, a pair of blue jeans with brown stains and multiple tears in them, and a pair of what looked like boots, but they were so worn down and damaged that they might as well have not been there.

Dan found this change in attire curious, but shrugged it off. He had more important things to be thinking about at the present time.

After a little wandering, Dan decided that trying the front door was probably a good idea. It was well past visiting hours, but when he considered it, the people who worked here had to be pretty stupid. He walked in through the front door—the receptionist was conveniently bent over, looking for something under the front desk—and it was a simple matter to hide behind the right walls and make as little noise as possible in order to remain undetected. Dan was right, as it turned out; the orderlies and guards throughout the place were about as smart as the bricks the Asylum was built out of. It made sense, because he seriously doubted The Joker would have got in if they had been doing their jobs properly.

Dan got to a storage closet and ducked inside. There he waited for the shit to hit the fan.

The lightning outside really complimented the creepiness of Arkham Asylum. There was no sound of rain outside, and that made Dan curious. The loud booms of the thunder served to make Dan jump every few seconds, and after a while the rain finally appeared to start. _Cartoon logic reigns supreme! _Dan thought to himself with a small chuckle.

After what felt like an hour, but in reality was ten minutes, Dan heard a bang … and another … and another. Out of curiosity, he took a peak out the door of the closet he was hiding in and saw, to both his nervousness and excitement, that all of the cell doors had been opened and the patients were all leaving their cells. They all just wandered around, almost zombie-like in their aimlessness.

_This is it, _Dan thought to himself in anticipation. _Not long now … I REALLY hope Zsasz doesn't turn up …_

He retreated back into the storage closet and continued to wait.

It felt like barely any time had passed at all when he heard The Joker's deranged laughter echo through the building. The cackling of this deranged lunatic finally snapped Dan into the reality of the situation. He was in _Arkham Asylum_; a bunch of potentially dangerous _lunatics _had been released from their cells; and, to top it all of, The motherfucking _Joker_ was in the building! It finally occurred to Dan just how much shit he had gotten himself in for.

_BOOM!_

_That'll be the exploding jack-in-the-box, _Dan thought as he steeled himself for the events to come. _Not much longer now …_

Gulping down any remaining nerves, Dan exited the closet one final time and began to move through the halls of Arkham. The patients were still wandering around in their zombie-like trance, posing apparently no danger whatsoever. _Maybe they keep the dangerous patients in another ward …? _Dan thought. He continued to move through the building, manoeuvring through the patients as they mindlessly stumbled about, until he came across something that told him for definite that he was right where he should be. He saw a man in a grey orderly uniform standing bolt upright, facing a wall. The man made no moves whatsoever.

Dan knew what had happened, but before he could do anything, some footsteps from behind him drew his attention. He turned to face his approacher and gasped when he saw who it was.

It was _him_. It was _BATMAN_! There was no mistaking it: The black cowl with the bat-like ears that exposed only the mouth and chin of the wearer; the black cape with the dark blue interior that resembled a pair of bat wings; the grey suit with the yellow oval on the chest, a black bat shape centred on it; the yellow utility belt filled with gadgets …

And the eyes. The eyes that the cowl somehow made to appear white with no irises. And they looked _terrifying_.

"You're not a patient," said Batman in his hard yet youthful voice. "And you're definitely too young to work here. So, why are you here?"

Dan began to panic a little. He began to wrack his mind for an excuse, when suddenly a thought entered his mind, almost like a soft whisper:

_You were digging through the garbage …_

"I was digging through the garbage," Dan repeated out loud. It was strange. He didn't _feel _like he was lying. He cleared his throat and gestured to the orderly. "Personally, I think we should be more worried about him."

Batman looked past Dan and his eyes sharpened (how Dan knew this when they didn't have irises, he could not tell you). Batman walked past Dan, who then followed behind, and approached the orderly's still form. He grasped the man's shoulder and turned him around to face them … and the sight that greeted them was much more terrifying than it had been in cartoon form. The man's mouth was stretched into an impossibly large grin that showed all of his teeth. The grin was so massive, in fact, that it had torn his lips open in several places, and small drops of blood were dribbling down his chin from his mouth.

"What the hell?" Dan said, not even having to fake the surprise and revulsion in his voice.

The cackling, deranged laughter echoed through the building once again … but this time it was closer. "Takes after his pa, wouldn't you say?" came a rough, humour-filled voice from just behind them. Dan and Batman turned to see The Joker sat on a support beam just behind them. He wore a purple and green outfit that heavily resembled a straight-jacket; there were strange, curving symbols up and down the arms. His skin was white, almost as if it had been bleached that colour, and his hair was long, green, and wild. His eyes were unnaturally round and red as blood. His lips were a deep, dark red, and his mouth was twisted into a grin even larger than the one on the orderly, showing all of his yellow, misshapen teeth.

"What did you do to him?" Batman demanded, pointing at the orderly.

"Just some laughing gas, Drac," said Joker.

"Really, 'cause I don't see him laughing," Dan remarked dryly.

"What do you mean?" Joker asked, turning his attention to Dan. "He has such a big _smile _on his face. How is that not laughing?" He dropped down from the support beam and pointed one of his long sleeves at Batman. "And what 'rational' being dresses like _you_? Speaking of threads, think this is a good look for me?" He did a sort of dance, swaying and shaking his arms.

Batman grabbed the front of Joker's shirt and pulled him forward aggressively. "Who are you?" he asked coldly.

"Joker," said the clown, not once dropping his grin.

"Not what, _who_?" He brought a hand to Joker's face and started rubbing. He pulled his gloved hand away to find that not a trace of any make-up was upon it. Joker's face looked exactly the same as it was.

"Smear free," said The Joker. If anything, his grin actually _widened _slightly. "It's perma-clown!"

"That's messed up," said Dan. It was one thing accepting something like that in a cartoon, but to see such a thing in real life … Dan felt a very real sense of horror building within him as he took in every detail of The Joker's vile being.

"Hey, don't dis the party face, kid!" The Joker yelled at him with a glare. He focused his eyes on Batman once again. "Ooh, tough crowd. Look!" He managed to wiggle out of Batman's grip and leap away. "Nothing up my sleeves!" He raised his right arm, allowing his sleeve to fall down and reveal his hand, which was holding a wooden hammer-shaped contraption used for containing gas. "Nothing that won't put a _smile _on your face! Say _cheese_!" he yelled as he jumped towards Batman, brandishing the gas device like it really _was _a hammer.

Batman wasted no time in throwing one of his batarangs at the contraption, which sent it flying out of The Joker's hand and onto the floor somewhere.

"I'm out of gas," said The Joker in a disappointed tone of voice.

Batman stepped onto The Joker's long sleeves, essentially pinning him to the ground. "And _I'm _out of patience!" he growled. He then punched Joker clean in the face, sending him stumbling backwards and ripping the majority of his sleeves off in the process.

"You really know how to spoil a coming-out party," said The Joker once he'd regained his balance. "How do you expect me to spread mirth and whimsy without a proper hideout!?"

"This place as a hideout?" Dan asked in confusion. He felt his sense of wit return to him as he witnessed the quite frankly awesome fight that was breaking out before him. "I feel low just taking the food from their garbage, I don't think I'd want to live here."

"Not helping," Batman whispered at him. He turned his attention back to The Joker. "Listen, Joker, you're sick. You need help."

"Well, maybe I _am _a little … _off_." The Joker rubbed his chin in thought. He then, out of nowhere, jumped and landed a harsh double drop-kick to Batman's chest, sending the caped crusader to the ground. "But what are you gonna do? Lock me in the loony bin? I'm already here! My old hideout's a shambles, and these digs just _scream _me!"

What followed was an almost embarrassing display on Batman's part. He was swinging punch after punch at The Joker, who simply ducked and dodged out of the way with surprising agility. He was cackling away the entire time, just avoiding Batman's punches as if it were child's play for him. Seeing that this wasn't going to end any time soon, Dan decided that now would be as good a time as any to try out his new powers. Concentrating, he held his hands out in front of him, focusing intently on the air around him, willing it to come to him. After some effort, a small tornado of sorts appeared between his palms. With a triumphant grin on his face, he thrust his hands outward, aiming in the direction of The Joker. The wind blew that way with some force—not nearly as much as Dan felt he would eventually be capable of, but enough—and hit The Joker head-on. The unexpected gust of wind knocked The Joker from his feet and onto the floor with a slight yelp of surprise.

Both Batman and The Joker looked at Dan with wide eyes. Batman snapped out of it first and moved to haul The Joker to his feet. The Joker, however, managed to jump to his feet and out of Batman's reach.

"Fine!" spat The Joker. "Take back the Asylum! But mark my words, this town's got happy days ahead!" He pulled two razor-sharp playing cards from the insides of his sleeves and flung them at both Dan and Batman. Batman expertly dodged, whereas Dan flung himself at the floor, praying to any deity that would listen that he would be able to avoid it. He had already died once today, and he wasn't exactly eager to do it again.

The Joker was running when they both turned their attention back to him. Batman ran after him immediately; Dan followed shortly afterwards, stumbling a little as he quickly regained his footing. The Joker turned a corner, and they followed him. They turned the same corner only to find that The Joker wasn't there—instead, there was a giant purple box with a picture of a clown on all four sides, and a lever rotating on one side. It didn't take long for either of them to register that this was a jack-in-the-box just like the one that had blown up the bridge, and Batman immediately ran to hold the lever in place. The music continued anyway, and the box appeared to be approaching the point of explosion. As the music drew to a close, Batman jumped back and held Dan in an attempt to shield him, then …

… the music stopped, the box burst open, and a giant clown on a spring popped out along with a lot of confetti.

"Smile, Gotham!" said a recording of The Joker's voice from within the box.

Batman sighed in apparent exasperation and turned to Dan. "Come on," he said. "I want to know what you just did, but we can't wait around here."

"Lead the way," Dan said with a shrug.

Batman walked over to the orderly and picked him up. Dan then followed Batman to a window, where he shot out his grappling hook somewhere Dan couldn't see.

"Grab onto me," Batman told him.

Dan wrapped his arms around Batman's neck, dangling off the man since he hadn't yet reached his full height. Batman held the orderly by his clothes with one hand, while the other was occupied with the grappling hook. He prepared to jump out of the window, but paused when a voice spoke up.

"Freeze!" ordered a dark-skinned, bald man in a white dress shirt with suspenders. He was pointing a gun at them. This was Detective Ethan Bennett, Bruce Wayne's best friend and one of the detectives on the hunt for The Batman.

A lightning flash obscured them from view for a moment, and that's when Batman jumped out of the window, swinging using the grappling hook. They reached the Batmobile relatively quickly and were driving off in no time.

* * *

"This is _awesome_ …" Dan said as he exited the Batmobile. They were in the Batcave now, and it was more impressive than Dan had ever imagined. It was, as one might expect, a large, dark cave with sharpened stone jutting out of the wall in several places. But it was _massive_. They weren't anywhere near the bottom; the part of the cave that Batman used as a base of operations was a series of round metal platforms connected by a series of walkways, and each one had a different purpose. Dan did not have time to ascertain the purposes of all of them, however, as he had to follow Batman from the Batmobile's parking space directly to the central platform, which was much bigger than the others and contained a large monitor above several smaller computer screens. To the far left of this workspace was what appeared to be an elevator.

"A child, sir?" said a voice heavy with British accent. Alfred Pennyworth, as one would expect of a butler, wore a basic black suit. He had barely any hair to speak of—likely due to his old age—but what little he had was a greying black, and he had a moustache that was neither thick nor thin. At the moment he was looking between Batman and Dan in curiosity.

"He did something very interesting," Batman told Alfred. He turned back to Dan. "What was that?"

"I have control over the air," said Dan. "It's pretty limited, though. I don't get all that much practice."

"How?" asked Batman.

"As far as I know I was born with it," Dan said with a shrug. Curiously, he once again felt like he was telling the truth, despite knowing otherwise … "I don't use it much, but I try to use it to help people."

"What's your name?"

"Daniel Blake. But I prefer Dan."

"A pleasure, Master Dan," said Alfred in greeting, giving a polite little bow.

Dan blinked, unused to this sort of behaviour. "You're the most polite person I've met in years," he said with an appreciative smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, mister …?" Pretending he didn't know who these people are was already starting to irritate him slightly.

"Pennyworth. Alfred Pennyworth."

"Is there anyone else who knows what you can do?" asked Batman, trying to get them back to the topic of the conversation.

"Probably not. I don't even remember my parents, they died years ago." Dan had to resist the urge to flinch at just how easily those words had exited his mouth. He didn't even have to _think _about it. It was like … he could remember everything about his old life: his parents, his friends, the fucking cat that had tripped him down the stairs. But he also remembered another life: living on the streets, struggling to get by day by day, using his powers over the air to stop the occasional attempted mugging. The logical conclusion was that he had been given false memories to help with coming up with his cover story … but why hadn't Yasuhide told him about that?

After a few moments of silence, Batman said, "Alfred, set him up a room in one of the Batcave's holding cells. Try to make it at least relatively comfortable."

"Huh?" Dan was suddenly very confused. He had hoped to team up with Batman, but he _definitely _hadn't expected it to be this easy.

"Your abilities may be useful," Batman explained. "If you're telling the truth, you could do great things for this city. We'll set up a room down here so you can help us."

After that, Dan didn't really do much of anything that night. Alfred made sure the cell had a relatively homely feel to it, so Dan didn't _feel _like he was in a cell, and that's when Dan realised just how tired he was. Apparently dying, jumping universes and trying out new superpowers could do that to a guy. The second his 'room' was ready, he dropped onto the bed and went to sleep. The Joker's unnaturally wide grin haunted his dreams …

* * *

**Done! Worry not, things will get more action-packed from here on in. I just thought Dan would be tired after jumping universes and using his powers for the first time. This shouldn't happen again.**

**Next Chapter: Holy Hell, Bane ALREADY!?**


	2. Chapter 2

**All right, I'm glad to say that I don't seem to be messing this up so far. I'd like to take a moment to apologise to you for the long wait for the second chapter; I had some decisions to make regarding how I want this story to go, and I'm rather pleased to say that I am rather confident in what I'm doing now.**

**Now to respond to the reviews for chapter one.**

**DarkLord98: Thank you, I'm glad you approve. And thanks, I've gone back and changed that now.**

**Mr Beaver Buttington: Sure thing. I'll PM you with the details to avoid spoiling everyone else. I'm glad you're enjoying it.**

**Let's begin.**

* * *

Holy Hell, Bane ALREADY!?

Dan was sitting on the bed in his 'room' in the Batcave, listening to the sounds of bats flying and machinery moving about. He was reading _The Waste Lands _by Stephen King, the third in _The Dark Tower _series. Books were one of the only forms of entertainment available to him when he was in here, not that he minded; he had always enjoyed a good book. He was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the authors from his old world also existed here in this one. He was having trouble concentrating on reading at the moment, however, as Batman was blasting some hard rock music over the top of his working. It made Dan tense; Batman was working on the Bat Bot, and that meant that the fight with Bane was coming up very, very soon. Dan had a little experience out in the field, along with a small amount of experience with his Airbending powers, but he still hadn't gone up against a supervillain.

It also didn't help that Batman—despite it being his idea to begin with—had certain reservations about having a child work with him. Dan had gotten better with his powers, true enough, but only enough to create slightly stronger gusts of wind and miniature tornadoes that were mostly useful for knocking enemies off balance, so he still had a ways to go yet.

Dan, despite the massive amount of excitement coursing through his body half the time, was at the very least taking the situation seriously. He was, after all, working with God damn BATMAN! And as little as he had interacted with Batman on a social level, Dan couldn't help but consider this the highlight of his existence. And he still had things to look forward to, as far as he was concerned. Batgirl and Robin were the two people he was looking forward to meeting the most; it would be nice to have people around his own age to work with since they'd probably be more sociable, and they'd actually be _willing _to form friendships.

Dan was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard some muffled yelling … then some slightly louder yelling … then the sound of something large moving … and then the sound of metal hitting flesh. Dan winced. That sounded like it _hurt_.

"Alfred!" said the worried voice of Batman. Dan couldn't actually _see _the rest of the cave, as Batman had thought it best that he kept his secret identity to himself for the time being … not knowing that Dan already knew who he was.

"Your nachos, sir," said the voice of Alfred in a deadpan.

"That sounded like it hurt," Dan said. "Is he all right?"

"It's merely a flesh wound, sirs," Alfred said reassuringly. "I do believe my military training has equipped me to deal with such injuries." There was a brief pause. "And what would that be for?"

"Dunno yet," said Batman casually. Dan wasn't used to hearing that tone of voice. "But it sure is cool."

"One of these days you're gonna form a consistent personality," Dan said humorously. "And I'm going to be there smiling when you do."

"If only those scientists at Wayne Enterprises knew their cutting-edge tech was being used to assist The Batman." Batman seemed to have completely ignored him.

A mischievous grin growing on his face, Dan said, "Wait, we're stealing from Wayne Enterprises?"

Batman started coughing, like he was choking on air. "N-no! We just …"

"If only we could build a cleaning robot to assist The Batman's butler," said Alfred quickly. He was probably trying to put an end to the moment. True to most versions of Alfred, he didn't exactly approve of the operation, but felt obligated to help in any way he could.

Dan could only sit in his 'room' and smile. Barely a few weeks in, and this place was already feeling like home.

* * *

It was an hour or so later, and Dan was sat in his 'room', bored. Batman was working on the Bat Bot again, he could hear that, and Dan felt the strong urge to start up a conversation … but he didn't. No matter how much nicer this Batman was than other incarnations of the character, he was still _Batman_, for Christ's sake, and he would never be good at casual conversation.

It wasn't as if he would have been heard, anyway. Batman had turned up the music again.

_God, this music is fucking awful,_ Dan thought as he tried to block out the noise. _Don't these people have Skillet here?_

Dan would not have to suffer for long, though, as a very loud and recognisable beeping sound began to emanate from where Batman was, cutting off the music.

"The Bat Wave?" said Batman. The beeping sound stopped, and Batman went quiet for a while. Then Dan heard the distinct noise of the intercom being switched on. "Hey, Alfred," said Batman, "bring down Dan's costume so he can get suited up. I'm taking him with me on this one."

"Of course, sir," Alfred replied with disapproval lacing his tone. He seemed even more reluctant about having a child on the team than Batman was.

"Dan, did you hear that?" Batman called back to him.

"Yep," Dan said. He could feel both excitement and nervousness bubbling up within him. "What are we dealing with?"

"An armoured car carrying a lot of money was attacked on the road," Batman told him. "Seems like a basic robber, should give you some good practice."

"Cool," said Dan. He sounded excited—he _felt _excited—but he was also terrified. _This is it,_ he thought. _This is the day Bane 'breaks the bat'. This is the day where Batman nearly dies on the job … Damn, I wish I was allowed to stop it … _All Dan could really do was hope that he didn't sustain the same amount of bodily harm that Batman did.

Before long, Alfred came down and brought Dan his superhero attire. It was a black and red hooded robe that looked to be in the style of Altair from _Assassin's Creed_. Beneath the hood was a white Robin-style mask that was meant to protect his identity should the hood come down at any point. He also wore a pair of black contact lenses, making his eyes appear completely black whenever he was in costume—Batman did the same thing, but with white ones, which was how he got the effect of the white eyes.

It took a little more than ten minutes for both of the heroes to get changed, and in no time at all the pair of them were in the Batmobile, speeding off to the scene of the crime.

"Any idea how many people are involved?" Dan asked as Batman drove. He knew there was only going to be one, of course, but he didn't want Batman to know that. Dan had seen enough time travel movies to know that knowledge of the future wasn't a good thing.

"It wasn't specified," said Batman in his business tone. "Just remember to stick to the shadows and surprise your enemies."

"Knock them out before they can do worse to me." Dan nodded. "I think I can do that."

"Good." Batman nodded once and was silent for the rest of the trip.

It took them barely five minutes to arrive. The Batmobile pulled to a stop mere feet away from the armoured car. The thing was a wreck; there was a massive hole in the back—likely the part that the money was kept in—and the whole thing was smoking like a forest fire. The Batmobile's roof came open and the seatbelts unclipped themselves, allowing the two heroes to jump out.

"Wow," Dan said quietly. He tended to keep his voice in a light hiss when he was in costume so that nobody could identify him by voice if he met them out of costume. "They really trashed this thing."

If Batman heard him, he gave no sign. Instead he simply walked over to take a closer look at the wreckage. Dan followed closely behind. They came to a stop when they came to the hole in the side of the car.

"The money's still here?" said Batman in slight confusion. Dan looked in and the money was indeed still there, along with two guards who were tied up and gagged. Batman looked at Dan after spending a few moments lost in thought. "We've been baited," he said.

"No," said a voice heavy with a Spanish accent from behind them, "_you _have been baited." Batman and Dan looked to the source of the voice and saw a man in a black costume that appeared to be made of rubber. It was skin-tight and covered every inch of his body. There were a few straight lines that appeared to be tiny gaps in the costume, but they couldn't be seen through. There was a series of pipes running along his arms and legs, and there was a dial of sorts on the back of his right hand. "The Batman, I presume?" he said. "And a … child? I hadn't been told to expect another."

"The mask look must be really catching on," said Batman, eyeing the man intently.

"Yeah, and a skin-tight rubber outfit?" Dan asked rhetorically. "Using your costume to show off your abs … damn, your ego must be even bigger than your muscles."

"Defeat me and I will allow you to remove the mask," the man said to Batman, completely ignoring Dan.

"I hate to disappoint, but I don't fight for sport," said Batman.

"Then fight for your life!" the masked man yelled before charging. He attempted to throw a punch, but Batman simply moved out of the way. The masked man threw a flurry of punches, all of which Batman ducked and dodged. Eventually Batman caught the masked man's fist in his hand and attempted to punch back, but the masked man dodged out of the way. This process repeated itself a few times before Batman caught hold of the masked man's arm and flung him at the wreckage of the armoured car, denting the side even more than it already was in the process.

"Talk to me," Batman said in his hard, cold voice. "You can start with name and motive."

"I am Bane," the masked man introduced himself as he stood up, "the last opponent you will ever face." He raised his right hand so that the back of it was facing the two heroes, and then he twisted the yellow-coloured dial on the back of his hand and began writhing in what could easily be mistaken for pain. Instead, some yellow liquid flowed from where the dial was on his hand and spread through all the transparent pipes that littered his suit. He began to grow in both muscle mass and height, and it became suddenly terrifyingly apparent just why he had those tiny gaps in his suit. As he grew, those gaps grew larger and larger, revealing crimson red skin beneath and throbbing veins of a darker red. The two gaps on his mask grew to reveal a pair of glowing, sickly yellow eyes and a snarling mouth of horrid-looking teeth.

Dan was near enough shaking in fear as he witnessed all of this happen. Nothing could have ever prepared him for just how hideous these sights were to see in real life when compared with watching them in a cartoon. He was seriously starting to consider that he may have made a rather huge mistake in choosing to come here …

Bane threw a colossal fist down at Batman, who snapped out of a shock-induced daze just in time to flip away from it. Bane charged Batman and threw even more punches, all of which were dodged by Batman, who at this point just seemed to be desperately avoiding the beast this man had become. Another punch was dodged, and it instead hit a lamppost which went flying down the street as impact was made.

"Lights out, Batman," said Bane in a growling voice that barely registered as human. He attempted to grab Batman, who used his grappling hook to escape to safety—Dan, on the other hand, had retreated into an alleyway simply out of fear. "Go on! Flee!" Bane yelled in mocking triumph.

Batman, however, was swinging back down from the other side of the causeway above them. Bane realised this too late, and looked back just in time to receive a kick to the face from The Dark Knight. Batman began throwing multiple punches at Bane, all of which hit but did nothing other than irritate the behemoth. Batman was forced to jump away as Bane attempted to throw both fists down upon him, leaving a small crater in the street as he missed. Batman, panting for breath, threw two batarangs at Bane, who simply stood there and laughed as they bounced harmlessly off of his arms. Batman threw a pair of small explosives—things that are usually used for distractions against much more human opponents—but their sparks and smoke did nothing but make Bane grin at him. Then Batman threw some slightly bigger ones—which _were _meant to cause injury—and Bane was lost in the resulting cloud of smoke.

Dan, finally having regained his nerves after watching the battle, approached the smoke with Batman. "You know," he said, "if this is basic stuff, I don't want to see an emergency."

He got no response. Batman simply stood and stared into the smoke with narrowed eyes. More than a little panic clouded Dan's mind when Bane's hulking form leapt from the smoke, grabbing both of Batman's arms and pinning him to the floor. Bane then picked up Batman and smashed him into a brick wall. Dan, having regained some semblance of mind, began firing off blasts of air at Bane, hoping to at least catch him off guard with a display of his abilities. It did not work. Bane smashed Batman into the floor … and again … and again … and again. Batman grunted and groaned in pain with every impact, and the sound of bones cracking could be clearly heard. Eventually, Bane seemed to have had enough, and he threw Batman into a brick wall, and Batman collapsed, the bricks of the wall falling to cover his broken body.

Dan's blasts of air were now random and panicked. He no longer had any real goal in mind, he just wanted this … this _thing _to go the fuck away and stop hurting people! In his mind he knew his attacks were pointless, but they were all he knew how to do, and so he kept on doing them.

Bane laughed mockingly at him. "You think you can do better?" he said to Dan. Instead of waiting for an answer, he swung his gigantic fist at Dan's head.

Dan never got a chance to dodge it.

A brief yet brutal feeling of pain was felt in Dan's head, and the world went black.

* * *

When Dan awoke, the first thing he thought was: _My head hurts like a bitch. _It was a dull, throbbing pain, but it was so constant, so damned _loud_, that it felt like he was being repeatedly smashed in the forehead with a very large hammer. He raised a hand to rub his forehead only to discover that his head had been bandaged. Upon discovering this, his senses seemed to sharpen and he came fully awake. When he did, he sat up so quickly that he felt a severe wave of vertigo and nearly fell from the bed he was on.

He was in the Batcave. That alone seemed like a miracle after the events of the night so far. Dan never thought he would be so relieved to see the dark, colourless interior of this place as he was now.

"Ah, you're awake, Master Dan," came the voice of Alfred from nearby. Dan turned his head to see Alfred by another bed, one remarkably similar to his own. "I wouldn't move too quickly if I were you, your head isn't in the best shape at the moment."

Dan gave a humourless chuckle. "I noticed," he said. He looked and saw that on the bed Alfred was stood by there lay a rather handsome man in his mid-twenties. He had short black hair and light blue eyes, and he was wired up to a lot of machines. Dan was wired up to one, too, as it happened, though his was only a heart monitor. "Bruce Wayne?" Dan said upon looking at the man on the bed. Once again, he knew exactly who it was, but also knew he needed to at least _act _surprised. Dan's face lit up in false realisation. "Ah, I guess that explains where he gets all the stuff …" He looked at Alfred. "Don't you think he's gonna be a little upset that you're letting me see his real face?"

"Your health is more important," said Alfred at once. "And as such, I should tell you that you won't be able to sleep for at least twelve hours, or else you might not wake back up again."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Dan. He was staring at Bruce with a look of guilt on his face. He knew what was going to happen, and he'd let it happen anyway. If it wasn't for the fact that the multiverse might implode if he changes anything too large, then he would have been able to prevent this … "Is he going to be okay?" he asked Alfred hesitantly.

"I'm afraid I don't know," Alfred said with a sigh. "He has multiple broken bones and fractures, _and _a rather large amount of internal bleeding. The police are stationed around all of the hospitals, so I'm afraid I'll have to treat you both myself. I'm about to start an operation on Master Bruce now to repair the internal damage." He paused. "Take the elevator up to the mansion if you wish, Master Dan. Now that you know Master Bruce's secret, I doubt there's any point in making you stay and watch this. Just go and watch some television, but for God's sake don't go to sleep."

Dan smiled. "You got it, Alfred." He removed the wires that were attached to him, stood slowly from his bed and walked over to the elevator. He took one last glance at Bruce, feelings of guilt washing through him again, and then took the elevator up to Wayne Manor, where he spent the next twelve hours watching TV in the living room.

He was glad when he was finally able to get some sleep.

* * *

It was three weeks later, and Dan's head bandages had been removed. He was currently in Bruce's room sitting next to the man himself, who was still in bed due to his multiple broken bones. They were watching the news on Bruce's laptop, and for the third day in a row, it was nothing good. The news crew was approaching a building—a bank or gold reserve from the look of it—that had a rather large hole smashed through the side of it.

"Detectives," said the reporter, walking up to Detectives Ethan Bennett and Ellen Yin, who was a woman with long black hair tied in a long ponytail with a red jacket. "Have there been any breakthroughs?"

"Rest assured, we're doing everything we can," said Yin.

"Then what about The Batman?" the reporter asked. "It's rumoured that he hasn't been seen or heard from since this Bane came on the scene."

"We're operating under the assumption that The Batman … is no more," said Yin before she and Bennett walked away.

"There you have it," said the reporter, turning to face the camera, "Gotham PD seems no closer to stopping this tremendous threat. It's been three weeks since this crime spree began, and the juggernaut known as Bane remains at large."

"The police can't handle Bane," said Bruce.

"Neither, apparently, could The Batman," said Alfred in response. "Or even a boy who has complete control over the air around him."

Bruce glared at Alfred for a moment, whereas Dan blushed in both embarrassment and shame. He was useless as he was at the moment, he knew that. Fighting off regular criminals was one thing, but going up against a supervillain was a whole other ball game, and it was one he just wasn't ready for yet. The thought of it just made him feel so _useless_ …

"Do try and rest, sir," Alfred said as he cleared up the food trays that Bruce and Dan had left. "I've spread word that you'll be on holiday for some time, so no one should come bothering." He began to walk away.

"Alfred," Bruce said in what appeared to be a cross between exasperation and desperation, "Gotham _needs _The Batman."

"Sir, I don't want to speak out of turn," Alfred said, turning to face him, "but if Gotham believes The Batman is gone, maybe it is for the best. Perhaps Bruce Wayne can heal, and finally get on with his life." He left the room with the food trays.

"You'll bounce back," said Dan, when he knew Alfred was out of earshot. "I haven't known you that long, but I _do _know that you're not the type to just sit back and let things happen. You may not be able to do it now, but once you've healed up enough, I'm sure you'll come up with something."

Bruce looked at Dan for a moment, then looked down at his bandaged arm. He flexed the fingers on his left hand. He seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment, then he started to struggle in an attempt to stand up. Dan got up and moved to support him, helping him stand up. Bruce gave him a quizzical look.

"There's nothing I can say that'll stop you," said Dan with a bit of a grin on his face. "I know you're pretty damn _stubborn_, too. So why don't you let me give you a hand? You look like you could use one," he joked, nodding at Bruce's bandaged arms.

Bruce actually chuckled at that, much to Dan's surprise. "Thanks," said Bruce. Then they made their way down to the Batcave and got to work on the Bat Bot.

* * *

They had been working on the Bat Bot for about an hour. It was no easy task, Bruce being as injured as he was, but they did the best they could with what they had. Bruce was attaching pieces of metal to the outside and screwing things in, while Dan was inside the Bat Bot wiring up the controls that Bruce had pointed out to him. It was at around this time that Alfred entered the Batcave with an expression of the utmost irritation on his face.

"And you two are doing _what_, exactly?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What you suggested, Alfred," said Bruce without looking away from what he was doing. "Getting on with my life."

"It's pointless arguing with this guy, Alfred," said Dan, though he was smiling as he did so. "So I figured I might as well help him instead."

"Interesting interpretation," Alfred said to Bruce. He was beginning to sound angry. "But know that if you intend to face this Bane again, sirs, you may need to find yourselves another butler-slash-physician-slash-getaway driver."

Bruce looked over at Alfred and hesitated slightly before speaking again. "I understand, Alfred," he said. He began to continue his work. He began struggling with the large wrench he was using as he tried to tighten a bolt. His body shook and he eventually lost his grip, dropping the wrench to the ground with a clatter. Dan made to climb out of the Bat Bot to assist him, but Bruce managed to pick it up himself. Just as he was about to start work again, a gloved hand overlapped his. It was Alfred.

"Oh, very well then," Alfred sighed. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

Bruce smiled, as did Dan, and the trio continued to prepare for the rematch between Bane and the Batman.

* * *

Dan and Alfred were sitting, staring at the giant monitor in the Batcave. On screen they were seeing a first person perspective of what Bruce was seeing from inside the Bat Bot, which took the form of a giant, hulking Batman armour made entirely of black and very, very dark grey metals, though it was slightly smaller than Bane. On the monitor, the two could see that Bruce was in the elevator of one of Gotham's many banks, which Bane had broken into a little while ago and was still inside.

Dan was, admittedly, both relieved and disappointed when he had been told he wasn't going to be in the fight this time.

The elevator doors opened on the top floor, and Bruce made the Bat Bot step out. The scene which greeted him was that of Bane advancing on Detective Yin, who was lying on the floor. Bane stopped and looked towards Bruce, seeing the Bat Bot, and anger filled his glowing yellow eyes.

"You _did _survive," growled Bane.

Bruce said nothing.

"Master Bruce," Alfred said into the microphone they had hooked up to the console, "how are things in the Bat Bot, sir?"

"According to Bat Wave, all systems go," Bruce's voice came through the headphones both Dan and Alfred were wearing.

"Kick his ass, Bruce!" Dan encouraged with enthusiasm. He had a giant grin on his face.

"Master Dan, language, please!" Alfred scolded him with narrowed eyes.

On the screen they saw Bane charge, and so Bruce charged, too. When the two behemoths got close enough to each other, Bane threw a punch which the Bat Bot caught in its giant metal hands, though it was pushed back a little. Twisting around and still grasping Bane's arm, Bruce made the Bat Bot hurl Bane across the room and into the wall next to the elevator, taking a massive chunk out of the wall and breaking the elevator, sending it dropping like a stone in a lake to the bottom floor of the building. Bane shrugged it off and charged again.

The two large fighters continued to punch and dodge each other, eventually leading to Bane being flung to the ground. The Bat Bot jumped atop him only for Bane to grab the head of the robotic armour and fling it directly at a wall.

The screen Dan and Alfred were watching cut to static for a few moments, and Bruce's cries of pain could be heard. Dan suddenly began to feel very nervous despite known that Bruce was going to win this one.

When the static cleared, Bane was in the middle of a charge, and upon impact with the Bat Bot sent both himself and Bruce out of the window. Bruce quickly booted up the Bat Bot's jetpack function and took the two to a nearby rooftop rather than risking the civilians down in the street. Bane charged out of the dust cloud that resulted from their landing and ran at the Bat Bot, succeeding in knocking off one of its arms.

Dan visibly winced while watching this happen on the screen. _Come on, Bruce, _he found himself thinking anxiously. _You can do this … I've _seen _you do this … Just don't let the bastard kill you …_

Bane, meanwhile, was beginning to completely pummel the Bat Bot. He knocked it this way and that before eventually knocking it to the ground. He then leapt away from it, grabbed a huge metal bar from nearby, and jumped back towards the Bat Bot. Bruce made the robot he was piloting jump away from the swings Bane made with the bar. This did not last forever, unfortunately. Bane finally managed to land an attack on the front of the Bat Bot with the bar, tearing the front of its chest open and exposing Bruce's still-bandaged chest to the light. His face, fortunately, remained obscured from Bane by the head of the Bat Bot.

Bane hit again, this time embedding the bar in the shoulder of the Bat Bot. He began to drag the bar, still embedded in the Bat Bot's shoulder, until it was dangerously close to coming into contact with Bruce's actual arm; but Bruce used the Bat Bot's other arm, which Bane had neglected to keep an eye on, to knock the bar clean out of Bane's hands. He then shoulder-barged the massive red monstrosity to the ground. He leaned over Bane's floored body, apparently thinking he was done, but then Bane delivered a large punch which sent the Bat Bot sprawling to the ground instantly.

"You cannot … beat … Bane!" Bane yelled as he smashed the Bat Bot's head into the ground. The camera feed to the Batcave began to flicker to static every few seconds. Bane then kicked the Bat Bot onto its back and pinned its good arm to the ground with his foot. Bane laughed loudly as he punched his fist into the open chest of the Bat Bot, further widening the hole there.

"I left you some dignity last time," he said, "but now I will unmask you." He grabbed the head of the Bat Bot and began to squeeze; the camera feed to the Batcave was now nothing but static, but Dan and Alfred could still hear everything. "Then I'll break the rest of your bones," they heard Bane say.

Dan couldn't see what happened next, but he heard struggling for a few moments … then something that sounded like smashing glass and the buzz of electricity … then Bane screaming in agony. Dan relaxed, sure that Bruce had just broken the dial on Bane's hand and reverted him to his original, very human form.

Bruce's sigh could be heard through their headphones. "Alfred," he said, the relief in his voice clear "need pick-up."

Alfred sighed in relief. "Oh, right away, sir," he said down the microphone.

"That sounded quite painful," Dan commented down the microphone as Alfred left to get the car. "Did Goliath go down hard?"

"Yeah," Bruce said with a laugh. Dan didn't know if he'd ever get used to hearing that. "But I'm afraid he looks a little more like David at the moment."

Dan found himself smiling. Despite knowing what was going to happen, he had been very worried about Bruce during the fight. He didn't know why, but while he had a general idea of how the fight was going to go, everything seemed kind of … fuzzy, somehow. He shrugged it off as leftover damage from the concussion (despite the fact that it had been three weeks since that) and simply stayed happy that Bruce had come out of this fight alive.

The life of a superhero was _much _more dangerous than they made it look in cartoons.

* * *

**DONE! Sorry for the wait, I had hoped to get this out earlier, but my schedule is all over the place. What do you guys think? I know it may seem a little early for Dan to learn of Bruce's secret identity (at least as far as Bruce and Alfred are concerned), but I just get the feeling that Alfred would put Dan's health before the keeping of a secret. And I think it occurred to them all that he would find out soon enough, anyway.**

**I hope you all enjoyed!**

**Next Chapter: Short, Fat and Ugly. Must be The Penguin**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all, and welcome to the chapter that brings in our favourite ugly-as-hell _Batman_ villain! Sorry this took a while, but my laptop problems have now been solved. And I've been trying to do this right, don't really want to mess this up, you know. Just to let you know, this is going to go up to an _M _rating, since Dan has been, to put it politely, swearing like a sailor.**

**You guys notice the new cover art? Not exactly great, I know, but it's the best I can do with PhotoShop. The costume you see on the front is sort of what I see Dan's costume looking like.**

**Now to respond to some reviews.**

**Guest: Of course I'm going to include Man Bat. I'll be doing pretty much every episode in the series, which is why it might take a while for the promised Batgirl romance to happen.**

**Boop: I'll take that under advisement. And don't worry about it, I know a few people who don't have English as a first language, so mistakes don't bother me.**

**Guest: Of course I'll update it. _This_ is an update, isn't it? I'm just sorry it took so damn long.**

**littleditto: Thank you, and I certainly will.**

**Terra-Vail: Thank you, and I'm dreadfully sorry this took so long. Do you really think this is one of the only good stories for _The Batman_? Thank you very much!**

**josephguy217: Well, I'm continuing it now. And thank you.**

**Sorry this took so long, but I've been working on everything at once.**

**Let's begin.**

* * *

Short, Fat and Ugly. Must be The Penguin

Despite the fact that they were currently hanging off a wall above a balcony on the top floor of a high-rise apartment building, all Dan could think about was the fact that he didn't have his own superhero name yet. It had been bugging him slightly for a little over a month. What was he supposed to answer with if he ever got the classic _Who are you? _line from someone he may rescue? The thought of telling them he didn't even have a _name _yet was just embarrassing to imagine.

He was snapped out of this thought process by a tap on the shoulder from Batman. He nodded at Dan and the two of them jumped down to the balcony below them. The detectives who were there a moment ago had vacated the room at last.

It was an expensive place to live, Dan could tell just by looking at it. If the elegant-looking scarf made of grey feathers didn't give that away immediately, then the large bed, expensive-looking carpeting and the jewellery boxes certainly did. The two of them crept around the room silently, knowing that there were still police stationed just outside the apartment, and that any noise would draw unwanted attention to them. This was the third high-rise apartment to be robbed that week, and, unless they were very much mistaken, the robberies were likely committed by the same person. The two of them began a sweep of the room to see if there was anything out of place.

Batman pulled a yellow cylinder from his utility belt and pressed a button. The end of the cylinder lit up a bright blue, and Batman put his eye to it like it was some kind of tiny telescope, then he began to look around the room through it. It made a tiny, rapid beeping sound after hovering over the area of the bedside table for a few moments. Batman lowered the cylinder and moved over to the table, Dan following closely behind.

As Batman examined the top of the table—presumably where the cylinder had been directing him—Dan knelt down to examine the area around it. It wasn't long until he thought he'd found something.

"Hey," Dan whispered, drawing in Batman's attention. "Check it out. I think I've found something." The thing Dan had found just under the table was grey and lifeless, and it could have easily been mistaken as a large gathering of dust. _Looks like some kind of feather, _Dan mused to himself.

Batman pulled out a pair of tweezers—also from his ever-convenient utility belt—and examined the object close to his face. It would appear he had the same thought Dan did, as he proceeded over to the feathered scarf draped over the chair, and held out the object in the tweezers to compare the two. It would seem he couldn't see a match, because he pulled out a vial and placed the feather into it.

Then the door to the apartment opened.

Without even thinking about it, Dan and Batman rushed over to the large window and opened it.

"I thought I set it on the—" A flashlight beam landed on the two heroes, and they saw that the holder was none other than Detective Ethan Bennett, accompanied by Ellen Yin.

"The Batman!" Yin exclaimed, pulling out her pistol and pointing it at the two vigilantes. "Freeze!"

Batman immediately jumped out the window, followed closely by Dan. They fell a few storeys—Dan's heart pumping with exhilaration from the long drop—and Batman grabbed on to Dan, then pulled out his grappling hook and shot it onto the building opposite, swinging away as the police below them yelled for them to stop.

Dan's heart rate calmed soon after they had stopped falling.

* * *

In the Batcave, both Dan and Bruce had now removed their masks. Bruce was examining the feather they had found with a microscope while Dan patiently waited for the results.

Dan took this time to reflect on what had just occurred in the apartment building. Bruce had to grab Dan before he could use the grappling hook, which Dan saw could become something of a hindrance in the future. Dan began to wonder about different ways he could move across rooftops and keep pace with Bruce when they were out on the job. _I suppose a grappling hook of my own would be easiest, _he thought to himself. _But it would take time to learn how to use it properly … Maybe I can think of something else? _There was an almost audible click in his head as a new thought hit him. _Oh, of course! How stupid can I get? It's so fucking obvious …_

Dan's thoughts were cut off when Alfred entered the Batcave through the elevator. He was carrying a neat-looking suit on a clothes hanger.

"Hey, you two, check this out," said Bruce without taking his eye away from the microscope. "Strix Nebulosa Nipponica. A rare species of owl native to China." An image of the feather and the owl in question came up on the giant screen in front of them. "According to the Bat Wave's search function, these scratches from the victim's dressing table match the owl's talon span." An image of said scratches also appeared on the screen. "Someone has trained a _bird_ to perform burglaries."

"At least it's more normal than a mental clown or a guy who can go full Hulk mode at will," said Dan optimistically. "Still, you've gotta be a hell of a good trainer to get a bird to do shit like this for you. Maybe they work with birds in a zoo or something?" Dan couldn't help but get the feeling he was forgetting something.

Alfred cleared his throat. "Ignoring Master Dan's slip-up in language," he said, making the boy in question rub his head sheepishly, "and without assuming I am not sufficiently impressed with your deductive powers, Master Bruce, I must remind you that you have a gala fund raiser to host."

"Right, Alfred, tomorrow night," Bruce said, casually.

Dan snorted. "Yeah, you might wanna check that again, Bruce," he said with a chuckle.

"Indeed," Alfred agreed. "It _is _tomorrow night. We wouldn't want our guests growing suspicious of how billionaire bachelor Bruce Wayne _really _spends his time after dark, now would we?"

"That would either be a hell of a _lucky _thought process or a hell of a _smart _one," said Dan. "I'm still not a hundred percent sure what's going on. Am I going to this? You haven't really made it all that clear, Bruce." He paused. "Then again, I guess it would be hard to explain a fourteen year old kid just suddenly starting to hang out with you."

"Sorry, Dan," said Bruce. "Eventually you'll be able to come up to the house even with guests over, but for now just hang out down here, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Dan said with a two-fingered salute. "Actually … I think I have an idea of something I can do while I'm down here. Hey, Alfred, we don't have any round pieces of wood around here, do we? Real thin ones? Or any of the material that Bruce's cape is made out of?"

"We have plenty of the cape fabric," said Alfred. "Wood, though … I'm not certain. I shall have to check."

"Thanks, Alfred. You're the man." Dan turned to look at Bruce with a wide grin. "Don't have too much fun without me, Bats."

* * *

Bruce and Alfred were up at the party, and Dan was getting started on his little project down in the Batcave. Out of his costume, he was now wearing a black T-shirt with fake bloodstains and white text that read: _THIS IS MY ZOMBIE KILLING T-SHIRT_. His mind wandered briefly to the party going on upstairs as he worked.

_There's something about that party I'm not remembering, _he thought as he wracked his brain for an answer. There was something, something about this event that was important, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was. The answer was itching away at the back of his mind as if to tease him. _God fucking dammit! _He stopped working for a moment in order to catch his breath; he always got frustrated when he couldn't remember something … which was happening more and more frequently as of late.

It had started briefly after the Bane incident. He recalled his memory going a little fuzzy a few times during the incident itself, but now, the more he tried to think about his previous life, the more he realised he was forgetting. He would think back to his family and remember nearly none of them. When he thought about his parents … he could only barely remember having any to begin with. When he thought about the show he was in … he was remembering less and less of the events that were going to take place. It was like everything he ever knew was slipping away from him.

… And yet he remembered living in the streets _perfectly_. Almost as if … as if that was really how he had lived his life for fourteen years.

Dan gulped and his breath began to quicken again as a terrible realisation hit him.

His real memories were being replaced by his fake ones.

* * *

A few hours later the party was over and everyone had left. Dan was able to come up to the mansion with no trouble. Alfred had been talking in rather unpleasant fashion about a man named Oswald Cobblepot, who had apparently barged into the party uninvited, made perverse advances upon a few of the female guests, eaten the food without making a donation, and just generally been an unpleasant person. Dan suddenly remembered just what he had forgotten about the party.

"The odd thing is, I was certain I'd heard that the Cobblepot fortune had long since been squandered," said Alfred as he looked over a rather thick stack of dollar bills that Cobblepot had apparently thrown near the fire after Alfred had loudly announced he wasn't making the donations required for the food. "They had to leave England to avoid the shame."

"It'd be a _shame_ if you didn't get some sleep, Alfred," said Bruce. "And try not to dream of these Cobblepots."

"There are plenty of ways of making money, Alfred," said Dan. "He might have won the lottery some place. Either that or he's involved in some … funny business. Come to think of it, Bruce, maybe this guy is worth checking out." He knew that he wasn't supposed to change major events in this world, but _maybe _he could give them a push in the right direction … while he still had the memories to do so.

Dan had thought about his memory replacement problem ever since he'd figured it out. And while the thought of losing his memory scared the living daylights out of him … he couldn't help but feel slightly grateful, too. Not only would it be easier to keep to his cover story if he didn't even remember that it _was _a cover story, but it also meant he would not remember ever leaving a life behind. It would make things much less painful for him in the long run.

"… All right, maybe at some point," Bruce conceded. "But right now you need to come with me." He placed his hand on a hand-print scanner and opened the elevator. He and Dan stepped inside it.

"And where do you think you're going?" Alfred asked them.

"We've got some birdwatching to do," said Bruce as the elevator doors closed. Bruce caught Dan staring at him with a sly smirk. "… What?" he asked.

"You timed that, didn't you?" Dan accused. "How long have you been wanting to use that one?"

"… Since we got back from the high-rise," Bruce admitted sheepishly.

Neither of them would have been surprised if Alfred had heard Dan's laughter all the way from the house above them.

* * *

Dan and Bruce were quick to put on their costumes. They both had experience in getting changed quickly—Bruce from his years as Batman, and Dan from all those days he'd had to get up for school in a hurry—so they were suited up and in the Batmobile in practically no time.

They drove very quickly through the streets of Gotham, taking deserted roads wherever possible, before coming to a certain place. Batman grabbed Dan, and they grappled to the top of a nearby building. They sat and they waited. What were they waiting for? Neither of them really knew for sure, but they were both hoping that a bird would fly past with a piece of jewellery in its beak or something. It was very unlikely, Dan knew, but it was the best plan either of them had at this point.

As it turned out, luck was on their side that night.

The clouds were covering up any stars that might be out, and yet there was a shining twinkle in the distance … flashes more than anything. They were everywhere, giving off light like a reflection of the sun—or the moon, in this case. The flashes of light got closer and brighter, and the two heroes saw _exactly_ what they were.

Birds. Hundreds of birds, all of them carrying some sort of jewellery or another. They flew through the night sky: owls, crows, pigeons, hawks. It was like an armada of feathered thieves had overtaken the skies of Gotham City.

"Holy shit …" Dan muttered as he took in the sight before him. He had seen it in cartoon form before—though he only vaguely remembered it—but to see this many birds in real life was … daunting, to say the least.

The birds pelted past them at a fast past, near enough knocking the two heroes from the building on which they stood. Running in the direction the birds were flying in, Batman leapt off the roof, Dan following behind and grabbing on to his back. Batman pulled the cords of the metal backpack he was wearing instead of his usual cape, and a large pair of metal bat wings came out. The two of them flew along rather than gliding, pursuing the feathered thieves as they flew back to their master.

After spending a little time on the tail of a grey owl, the two of them found what they were looking for. The birds had been dropping their loot into the back of a car … a limo, to be exact. And there to collect the goods was a Geisha girl—Dan assumed this was one of the girls he had been told Cobblepot had brought with him to the party.

"One of Cobblepot's girls," said Batman with narrowed eyes. "Where's kabuki twin number two?"

"_She's about to get the drop on us_!" Dan yelled from his spot on Batman's back. Batman turned his head just in time to see the other Geisha dropping from above them. She was holding no weapon of any kind—at least not any that they could see—yet she managed to sever the right wing of the backpack like a knife chopping through butter. Without two wings to hold them up, Batman and Dan spun out of control, plummeting to the ground below.

Dan let go of Batman and fell. As he neared the ground, however, he willed the air to blow a wind upwards from just below him, creating enough of a slow in his descent for him to land safely on the ground. Batman ejected from his backpack, bounced on a cable wire connecting two apartment buildings, and slid down a pipe to the safety of the ground.

One of the Geisha girls was in front of them, the other behind.

Suddenly, the two women dropped their clothes … and their _hair_, revealing that they were in fact two red metal people with white face masks on their heads. On each of their hands were three long fingers as sharp as knives.

"Whoa," Batman said in surprise.

"Okay," said Dan with a heavy breath. "I take back what I said about this being normal by our standards. It's pretty much as fucked up as usual."

The Geisha behind them jumped into the air, leading the two of them to snap their heads up to look at it, and the other one took the opportunity to lunge at them from the front. They jumped back to avoid the one that was on the ground, but were now directly in the path of the one that had jumped. Thinking quickly, Dan blew a gust of air upwards, knocking it away from them. Unfortunately, it landed gracefully on its feet.

The two robotic creatures sprang forward with a flurry of slashes, all of which were ducked and dodged by the two heroes. Batman and Dan both attempted to retaliate in their own way, only to be similarly blocked or dodged by the things they were fighting. This went on for a while without change, until one of the Geisha robots got the jump on Batman and kicked him into a dumpster.

"_Shit_!" Dan cursed, allowing this new development to distract him. Due to this, one of the things was able to similarly kick Dan into the wall on the opposite side of the alley they were fighting in.

"Great," Batman muttered from his spot on the floor. "Double trouble." He got up and charged the two Geisha girls, attempting to hit them. When they attempted to hit him, he grabbed their arms or legs—depending on which they were using—and pushed them away roughly. When they were far enough away from him, he threw two batarangs at them. One of the batarangs was dodged and hit a wall, but the other appeared to have hit home … until the Geisha opened its arms and threw the bat-like projectile back again. Batman dodged it, but the batarang hit the support beam of a fire escape, causing it to fall directly towards him.

Batman noticed this a little too late, but was saved when Dan ran over and tackled him out of the way of the falling metal structure. There was no time for thanks, as the Geisha girls had quickly gotten into the car and were driving it directly towards them. Batman somersaulted out of the way, whereas Dan simply dived to the side.

The two heroes narrowed their eyes as the Geisha girls vanished into the night.

* * *

Back in the Batcave a little while afterwards, Bruce and Dan were staring at the large monitor. On the screen was an image of a newspaper clipping with Chinese writing on it.

"High-rise jewel thefts baffle police," Bruce translated. The screen changed to show a map with multiple pictures of different locations on it. "Dozens of similar crimes across Asia, which suddenly stopped last week, and started up again in Gotham."

"Well, if there was any doubt left after Cobblepot's robo-minions attacked us, there certainly isn't any now," said Dan.

Bruce was silent for a moment, apparently in thought. "And he used _my _guest list as a check list for tonight's crime spree," he said. He pushed the button for the intercom. "Hey, Alfred … Alfred?"

"You told him to get some sleep, remember?" Dan reminded him.

"It would've woken him up," said Bruce. "He's a light sleeper … Maybe he's out running errands?" Bruce pulled out his mobile phone and dialled Alfred's number.

Nobody picked up. The phone seemed to shut off entirely after a few moments.

Bruce took the phone away from his ear and narrowed his eyes at it. "Something's not right," he said.

"No shit …" said Dan. His breath was heavy and he could feel his heart pumping in his chest. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that Alfred was in some sort of danger. "So, what do we do? Do we try to find him, or do we just keep doing what we're doing?"

Bruce thought about it. "We should go investigate Cobblepot," he said. "Maybe Alfred turned his phone off or something, I'll ask what he was doing later. But right now we've got a thief to catch. Come on."

The two of them jumped back in the Batmobile and drove off again.

* * *

The two of them arrived at the mansion known as Cobblepot Manor and were rather surprised by what they saw. For an apparent millionaire, Oswald Cobblepot clearly wasn't looking after his house too well. The place was about as run down as it was possible for a house of the size to be. The windows were broken, the foundations were crumbling, and the whole structure seemed about ready to collapse at any moment. The place looked like it should have been condemned a long time ago.

… And yet there was one part of the house that stood out above the rest.

One the back side of the house—where any normal person would have a garden—was what appeared to be a giant birdcage. It was made out of what appeared to be metal wire, and was clearly in much better condition than the rest of the house. It certainly had better lighting, at any rate, being lit up like a Christmas tree.

"I think this guy might have a few birds fluttering around in his _brain_ …" Dan muttered as he looked upon the structure with wide eyes. "How the hell did he get this thing built without anyone talking or hearing about it? This isn't exactly a normal construction job."

"I don't know," said Batman with narrowed eyes. "But I don't like it. We're looking for thieving birds, so that looks like a good place to start."

Batman grappled onto one of the wires towards the top of the cage and grabbed Dan, who was none too thrilled to dragged along on the grappling hook once again. The two of them reached the top and looked down into the birdcage, and a rather unfortunate scene greeted them.

Alfred was down there, as were the two robotic Geisha girls. So was a person who Dan assumed was Oswald Cobblepot. He was a short man—even shorter than the fourteen year old Dan, by the look of him—and he was dressed in a penguin suit and top hat. He wore a monocle over one eye. And boy was he _fat_. His nose was long and pointed, as were his teeth. His hair was bright ginger and his eyes were dark blue. Dan looked at him and felt a strong sense of revulsion building up within him. This guy was one _ugly _motherfucker.

The situation was a bad one. Alfred was on the floor, his arms spread out and seemingly attached to to the floor. There was a giant tree in the middle of the birdcage, and there were spotlights shining all over it. There were a large amount of smaller birdcages on the tree's branches … all of which were opening, and the birds were flying out, descending and swarming around Alfred. Cobblepot was holding two umbrellas, one of which appeared to have fire coming from the end of it.

Without missing a beat, Batman brought a fist down on the metal wiring he and Dan were standing on, breaking through it with a great _CRASH!_ and allowing them to drop into the giant birdcage. Batman landed just next to Alfred and then used his cape to shield them both from the swarming birds.

"Who's that?" Cobblepot asked in confusion. His voice was somehow rough and high-pitched at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" Batman whispered to Alfred.

"Long story," said Alfred.

"Tell me something, Cobby," said Dan, turning to face the man in question. "If you were broke until a couple of weeks ago, how did you afford all the snazzy umbrellas?" He noticed the birds starting to overwhelm Batman. "Hold that thought for a minute, would you?" He blew a gust of wind at the birds, dispelling enough of them for Batman to reach his utility belt. Batman pressed a button on a device in his utility belt. The device emitted a noise so high-pitched that only the birds could hear it, and after a few moments of panicked flying, they flew out through the hole Batman had created in the ceiling of the cage.

"No! No! No!" Cobblepot cried. "Come back, my pretties!" None of the birds heeded his call.

"Jolly good," Alfred sighed in relief from his spot on the floor.

"So, it seems the tales of The Batman are true," said Cobblepot, his two robotic minions coming up behind him. Cobblepot looked at Dan with contempt. "But you, shortie, I don't have a clue who you are … and I don't care. But really, Batman, who names themselves after a mangy flying rodent?" He pressed a button on one of his umbrellas, and the robots charged.

They jumped at Batman, who dodged them, then fired his grappling hook at a large cage in the tree behind them. He retracted the hook and, as a result, brought the cage down from behind them, trapping the two robots within. He then jammed a Batarang into the lock so they couldn't get out. They uselessly swiped at him through the bars.

Cobblepot was not where he once stood. His deranged laughter echoed throughout the cage. They all caught brief glimpses of his shadow as he—surprisingly quickly—ran around the area.

"Just one question, Batman," said Cobblepot's voice. "How'd ya find me?"

"You left a trail of breadcrumbs, Cobblepot," said Batman.

"Please," Cobblepot's voice said from just behind them. They turned to see him stood in a crouch, his umbrella raised in an offensive position. "Now that all pretences are off, call me Penguin. A flightless bird, but one with _style_!" He thrust his umbrella forward, a large torrent of fire exploding out of the end. Batman and Dan both leapt back to avoid being burned. Using the distraction, Penguin leapt at Batman, attacking him with a fast-paced flurry of kicks to the face and chest.

Dan tried in vain to knock him away—or at least off balance—with some air attacks. _I … I can't believe this is actually happening, but … he's too fat for my air to have any affect on him!_ If anything, his air attacks just made things harder for Batman, so he opted to stand and wait. If an opportunity presented itself, he would take it. If not, well … he had faith that Batman would be able to handle things.

Eventually, Penguin's kicks brought Batman to the ground.

"My word …" Alfred said with a gasp.

"A few tricks I picked up in the Orient," said Penguin, smirking. Then he burst into cackling laughter. His laughter was quickly cut off, however, when a batarang came flying and hit his umbrella, cutting the end of it clean off. The batarang then spun around until it landed back in Batman's hand, said hero narrowing his eyes at Penguin.

"I have a few tricks of my own," said Batman, getting to his feet.

Penguin cast his flame-throwing umbrella aside and brandished his other umbrella—this one with a sharpened metal tip—like some kind of sword. "Bring it on, rodent boy!" he said. Batman attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks, but Cobblepot dodged and responded by making jabs and slashes with his umbrella, which Batman also dodged. The fight was going all over the place, very nearly landing right on Alfred at several points.

Dan broke out of an awe-induced stupor he had been put in whilst witnessing the incredibly skilful fight and made his way over to Alfred's restrained form. "Come on, Alfred, let's get you out of this," he said as he began to untie the butler.

The fight had now moved, and was taking place in the branches of the large tree. Penguin was much higher in the tree than Batman, and was starting to chop down the cages attached to the branches, making them fall down and hit Batman. He dodged most of them, but one got a lucky hit and sent him tumbling to one of the branches lower down, where he landed with a pained grunt. Penguin cut down yet another cage, this one hitting Batman right in the back of the head. Using the handle of his umbrella, Penguin swung around on a branch, then flung himself at Batman, knocking him from one branch down to another.

Penguin jumped down and attempted to stab Batman through the branch, but Batman used the branch to flip himself forwards, kicking Penguin onto an even lower branch.

"Stay down, Penguin," said Batman, staring down at the branch Penguin had landed on.

Penguin looked up at him in rage … but then a smile broke out on his face. "And have you miss what's coming next?" he said. He shoved his umbrella forward and the handle came out in a large, glowing chain that had a curved blade on the end. Batman dodged it, but it hit a branch behind him, which was cut clean off with no fuss or delay.

"Let me guess," said Batman, pulling out a pair of batarangs, "a little something you picked up in the Orient?"

"This Penguin has _claws_!" Penguin yelled. He lunged at Batman and the fight began anew. Penguin used the glowing chain of his umbrella; Batman blocked it with a batarang that was then flung from his hand and onto the ground below. Penguin used the chain to swing on the branches, coming in for a kick which knocked Batman to another branch. Penguin tried to hit Batman with the chain, but he dodged, though just barely. Penguin began attacking so rapidly that Batman's dodges became completely random, and it was only by sheer luck that he stayed in the tree. The chain had cut off many branches by this point.

Eventually, though, Batman's luck ran out, and as he was pulling out another batarang the chain wrapped around him and he tensed up in pain. The bright blue sparks of electricity could be seen flowing out of the chain and all around him.

Penguin laughed maniacally. "Bird beats bat!" he exclaimed in joy.

With shaking hands, Batman reached out his arm and grasped the chain firmly in his hand. A look of surprise and disbelief came over Penguin's face, and in one swift movement Batman pulled the chain towards himself, causing Penguin to come flying in his direction. One well-placed punch to the face later and Penguin was lying on the floor, unconscious.

"There's a nice cage waiting for you, Penguin," said Batman. "In the Gotham State Pen."

"As thrilling as it was watching you work, sirs, from now on I shall leave the sleuthing to you two," said Alfred. They began to walk away from Penguin's floored form.

A yell caught their attention, and they turned to see Penguin charging at them with a blade extended from his umbrella. Alfred threw his serving tray at Penguin, though it missed completely. As Penguin charged, Batman put out his foot for a hard kick which sent Penguin practically flying backwards. As if that weren't enough, Alfred's serving tray hit a lever of some sort, and a ton of birdseed was released from a large container on the ceiling … and landed right right on top of Penguin. There was no chance of him moving any time soon.

"_That _is for Grandpa Pennyworth," said Alfred, looking down on Penguin with a look of disgust.

"We'll leave this bird for the police," said Batman.

"What about the Geisha twins?" said Dan. He looked over at the cage the two robots were contained it … and saw it completely empty except for the two Geisha faces. He briefly wondered if they even _were _robots. They moved very fluidly and they made no noise that he could relate with any kind of technology; indeed, they were very nearly silent. He shrugged it off as him just over-thinking things.

"They flew the coop," said Batman as all three of them looked at the cage.

* * *

**Well, that's Penguin's introductory chapter! Hope you liked it! Once again, I'm sorry for the delay, and I would've had this out earlier if it weren't for the shit-ton of homework I've had these last couple of weeks. I hope you understand.**

**What do you guys think of Dan having his memories replaced? It's an idea that just sort of popped into my head as I was writing out the chapter, and I just couldn't _not _include it. Should give Dan an interesting dilemma, I think.**

**Now, I have the ending for this story all planned out. And a plot for the next one, which has Dan headed into the story of _Teen Titans_, so be happy! Although, that'll take a while because I have a lot of show to get through, so just try to enjoy this for now. I'd just like to take a moment to thank Mr Beaver Buttington for giving me the idea for the ending; you're a great help!**

**Next Chapter: Man Bat-Shit Insanity!**


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